I hope you’re all enjoying summer break -- playing baseball, golf, lacrosse or chasing a few walleyes around the lake.

Within a couple of months, hockey registration will be here. Hopefully new forms will be available with the possibility of downloading the forms from the website. Also an updated IYHA handbook will be available and given out at registration. The handbook will outline the expectations of IYHA players, coaches and parents as well as the philosophy of the association.

Another pressing issue is fund-raising. As you’re well-aware, hockey is very expensive. We need to find creative ways to minimize the cost of the game. We as an association need to pursue every available opportunity – we all need to be proactive in our approach and share ideas on fund-raising. Every dollar into the coffers decreases each skater’s bill. All ideas are welcome and feel free to present your thoughts at an upcoming board meeting or email any member of the board. We need to at minimum – keep the current numbers in our association and can’t afford to lose any players due to the rising costs of the game.

I firmly believe that all athletes should be well-rounded and play a variety of sports. And with the 90 degree temperatures we’ve experienced lately, honing hockey skills is probably the furthest thing down on your son or daughter’s “to-do” list, but if the opportunity presents itself, encourage your Knight to keep their hockey skills sharp over the next couple of months. Ways to do this include shooting pucks, leg lunges, and stick handling to name a few.

This is your association and I encourage you to share your thoughts and ideas.

Enjoy the summer,

Tom

From Registration Coordinator (Jeanne Falconer):

IYHA Registration will take place in August. The dates will be announced soon. The forms will be available on the web-site. Some things to note:

IYHA will not be taking credit cards - this will be investigated for the following season. It needs to be put in place sooner than a month before registration because of the change it will probably bring about in the treasurer's and team treasurer's responsibilities.

Players and coaches can register anytime online with USA Hockey for USA Hockey and MN Hockey. Those who register online would receive a receipt that would have to be brought to IYHA's registration. The fees haven't changed: $30 for USA Hockey and $10 for MN Hockey. Those born in 2001 and after have to register, but don't have to pay the fees.

On the right side of the screen is a box for "Register Online"......click on that.

Click on Ice Players and Coaches.

Click in the box affirming you are 18 years or older.

Click on the 2007 - 08 season and continue from there.

If you register online, you will not have to pay these fees at IYHA registration and you will not have to fill out a Waiver of Liability as you will have done so online.

A deadline will be set to receive mail-in registrations.

There will be 2 registration dates in August. There will be a date in September shortly after school starts. This is for new players. All others should have registered in August.

We are looking at posting yard signs as a method of advertising. If we go with this, we will need yards to put the signs in, so please consider putting a sign in your yard.

Suggestions and comments are welcome: or phone in the evenings/weekends 763-458-5946.

Thank you.

From Boy’s Coordinator (Mark Mohar):

Attention All Coaches

We are looking for coaches at all levels for the upcoming hockey season. (Parent and non-Parent) If you are interested in coaching a team this season, please contact:

Boys Program:

Boy's Program Coordinator, Mark Mohar at 651-639-1908 or by email at
.

Coaching interviews will be held in August (for the Boys program). Check the August newsletter for further details.

Girls Program:

Girls Program Coordinator, Mike Nundahl at 651-633-8287 or by email at .

Initiation Program:

Initiation Program Coordinator, Bob Gabler at 651-697-4708 or by email at

IYHA 20,000 Puck Club

IYHA has a 20,000 Puck Club, which started this spring and will go through the summer. Players that shoot at least 20,000 pucks (10,000 for returning Initiation players) during the off-season from now until the end of August will receive a 20,000 Puck Club sweatshirt next fall. If you shoot 10,000 pucks this summer, you will receive a t-shirt. All you have to do is write down the number of pucks you shoot each day in the calendar provided, add up the total, have you and a parent or guardian sign the sheet and turn it in at registration next fall.

The key to developing a good shot is to practice shooting. It is a small investment of your time to achieve big results. Having a good shot does not take magic, it just takes practice.

Have Fun!

Irondale Stickhandling Circuit

-Joe Federer, 2007

Monday, Wednesday, Friday

In front of your body, stickhandle side to side for 1 minute as fast as you can.

In front of your body, side to side, 1 minute as wide as you can (this may be difficult in a basement) going to one hand on your backhand side.

In shooting position, stickhandle forward and backward staying in control for 1 minute. Work on this drill to get a feel for the puck (ball) on your stick.

Starting on the side of your body in shooting position, push the ball out, 'toe' it back in to the side and quickly move it over to your backhand side (going out as far to your backhand side as possible. Repeat for 1 minute. As you do this, think of the words: Give, Take-away, Go-Around.

In front of your body, side to side for 1 minute as fast as you can.

Tuesday, Thursday

Figure 'infinity' ∞ around 2 pucks in front of you, roughly three feet apart. Stickhandle as fast as you can for 1 minute one way, 1 minute the other. See figure on the next page.

Figure 8 around 2 pucks lined up in front of you, roughly three feet apart. Stickhandle as fast as you can for 1 minute one way, 1 minute the other. See figure on next page.

Figure 'infinity' around 2 pucks in front of you, roughly as far apart as you can reach to both sides (going around the pucks will require you to shift your body and go to one hand on your backhand). 1 min each way, pulling the ball as fast and hard as you can from puck to puck.

Saturday, Sunday

Pull the ball into instep of left foot, kick out to the blade of your stick, stickhandle across body, pull in to instep of right foot, and kick out to blade. Stickhandle back across and repeat for one minute. Try to be quick and smooth.

With the ball on your side in shooting position, pull in to out-step of left foot, kick out, move the ball to other side of body smoothly, pull in to out-step of right foot (using backhand/forehand depending on which side), and kick back out. Repeat for 1 minute. If you are right-handed, you will go the opposite way, right foot first, left second.

Free stickhandle for 2 minutes. Spin, bring into your feet, fast, slow, wide, short, everything. Just keep the ball moving for 2 min and try not to do the same thing for to long at any given time. Do the things you are uncomfortable with, challenge yourself and try new things.

IYHA Board Meetings are open meetings.

Please feel free to come to the meetings. If you wish to have a copy of any information which is distributed at any meeting, please email or call Jean and it will be mailed to you. Upcoming dates for 2007 Board meetings are the

third Thursday of every month at 6:30 p.m. Our meetings are held at the New Brighton Family Service Center.

Meetings in 2007: August 16, September 20, October 18, November 15, December 20.

NOTE: If you wish to be on the agenda for the meeting, please contact the IYHA President.

Lake Region Board Meetings:

Lake Region Hockey meetings are open meetings. Contact Jeanne Falconer for dates and times of the next meetings.

Sponsorships:

Sponsors for teams are listed below. This part of the newsletter will continue throughout the rest of the IYHA season. Please notify Jean Aukee of any additions or corrections. (Please forward information about websites and addresses, etc.) Many thanks to our sponsors!

Announcement that Tom Lucarelli won the re-election for President – Tom accepted the position – all members were thanked for voting again – another good turnout. Thanks to Mark Hentges for running for president and serving between elections.

Regarding Agenda being emailed out to members ahead of time – good idea and should continue doing.

Old Business: No old business.

New Business: No new business.

Board Roundtable:

President: Tom Lucarelli. – Mark attended the June 12th District One Presidents meeting so Tom can’t really comment on this - affiliate agreement information to Tom.

Vice President: Cheryl Mason. – started to work on tournament – good relationship with MV, Need planning volunteers, tournament advertised in Lets Play Hockey – teams already responding showing interest – making sure cost structure correct – Peter Ruppert today - $3500 in account today - gave them check for $3200 – making tournament manual – anyone have past statements – entrance fees, etc. Meeting last Monday – only Cheryl there – need to recruit more helpers – will be a volunteer commitment program – need volunteers to help define program – structured hours required for each family – Summer parades coming up – need help there too – kids handing out candy – will girls be in SSR tournament – getting data from lets play hockey – want to know what other tournaments going on that same weekend – right levels, right entry fees, would be good to have girls in the tournament, price – SSR tournament most expensive we paid last year – others didn’t charge admission – don’t raise prices – junior b gold and bantams are charged more (longer games) – profit today 50% higher than budgeted (15,000 vs 22,500) – made 7 to 8 thousand dollars on both events – average tournament cost about $550 – pressure from SSR – negotiate some costs – no money made on concessions – we can’t run them anymore - $200 from donut man – we need volunteers – need a new tournament treasurer – good check and balance process

July – revisit access to list of association members among board members – privacy issue? Add something to the registration process to make sure parents know the email addresses may be shared with board members

Girls Program Coordinator: Mike Nundahl. – District one meeting last week – U10B only group we will host? Others will be elsewhere – 18-12U, 20-10U, 10-8U, 22-14U – about half will go to high school maybe more – after registration need to perhaps do some co-ops with other associations – Dist2 – 3 12U teams – Mike spoke to east and west – MV and SLP

Initiation Program Coordinator: Bob Gabler. – calculations for refunds done – will be sent out this weekend – their mites might be accepted into our program – Edison – Weren’t they planning on running a mite program? They want to start with 1st year mites – 7 or 8 kids to add – don’t need board action – Edison just sign waiver – Tadd – spend (1st year players) 20 hours with the kids – last year hard to get coaches for mini mites – Tadd does a great job with that level – great recruitment tool – knowledge transfer Tadd to other coaches – Let’s Play Hockey Night? Get flyers out and schedule it – ice time? District is interested in supporting bumpers? Need to know where they are needed – Shoreview – no and SSR – no (Mounds View bumpers or Ramsey county bumpers?) Ramsey county should buy them for Shoreview. Bob started an adult hockey league – new appreciation for mites.

Boys Program Coordinator: Mark Mohar. – not much happening even though a lot happening – coach interviews will start at the end of July – contact Mark to set up an interview – Paul Harvey – VFW – preseason meeting in July – Edison – Mark and Bob met with Pat Leary and Dan Gustufson – ½ board there too – not very active – not enough Pee Wees, Squirts or Bantams – not good situation – estimates 7 squirts 10 pee wees 11 bantams (80% of these numbers could be ours) and girls 6 - 10u, 9 - 12u, handful 14u – most of the girls will go to Mpls Washburn – can the Edison kids decide individually where they want to go? DIST1/Tom Mickus said this would be OK – contradicts the waiver policy – parents meeting the week of July 9th – we can attend and talk about IYHA – Washburn and Southwest will be at the meeting too – doing the same thing – set up a limited time (2 years) for Edison kids to tryout for IYHA “A” teams – if their numbers would affect a reasonable number of kids at a level for our kids may not do (i.e 20 squirts too many for one team and not enough for 2) – should be all of their kids coming here and not split up – Edison has no contract with Edison arena for ice – 2 big bantam, 2 big peewee, 3 squirt if none of their kids – the district needs to step in and not just let each association try and sell themselves – 3 bantam 3 peewee 4 squirts if all Edison kids come to IYHA – 12 per team squirts and peewees, 13 -14 per team bantam – no bigger than 16 per team – makes the most sense from an investment standpoint to get them all here and have them play high school for Irondale – private schools don’t have a feeder program – A bantam teams better development wise than a JV team – need to work with Jeff Martin – plan needs to be in place when go to VFW meeting – August 1st – need to let the district know what teams we won’t be fielding – need board action for July 9th Edison meeting? Meet with Edison parents, board action by IYHA, agreement with Edison – need board action tonight? Edison concern – can they try out for any team? Mark proposes we allow Edison to try out for IYHA “A” teams for 2 years beginning 2007/2008 (pending negotiations with Edison) provided we waive in at least 75% of bantam, peewees and squirts and we have the capacity to field teams with waived in players – less than 75% would be current policy – this is in affect until Edison has their own program again for these teams – forces Edison to make a commitment – Mark made this a motion – Jackie second it – Bob – amend Mark’s motion to leave off 75% out but Mark has the ability to negotiate – Mark has the boards approval to negotiate this – we want all their players – leave wiggle room for a few that want to leave – make it a cooperative agreement? No further discussion – approved unanimously.

Email comments the last month – a lot of people want to play down – player development want to play at A level – need to think about the future – we need to maintain a competitive program – if we play down will be hard to get back up to A level – we are laying the ground work and it may take awhile – all levels want same thing – more of a bantam issue? Jeff Martin goes out of his way to play weaker teams in state of MN, is the HS playing at a B level? Other than 2 teams – conference games vs non conference games. Player Development – 3 factors - skills, practices, games – a big part of competitive advantage is from playing other A teams – parents who don’t want to play A can sign up for B/C instead of A/B. Coach/parent – development just started and should’ve started along time ago – only been in a lull for 5 years – numbers issue – sacrificing our players now for the group coming up the ranks – levels should not be permanent thing – should be up to coaches/teams – stay in A level but play in different tournaments where we won’t get slaughtered – levels shouldn’t matter – we need to be competitive on the ice – we need more numbers – how can we correct it?

District Representative: Chris Drews. – hand out – copy of policy that was passed – waiver policy – no district meeting since our last meeting so nothing else new – no one will be waived out at Dist 1 if another team needs them – we won’t waive anyone in if it upsets our numbers – no one displaced – Blaine player will need waiver this year. No one waived prior to registration. Still need two volunteers – secretary (between us and one other assns) and tournament committee member (15-20 hours) – for regional and state tournaments – we need someone! Or we will be fined. Start volunteer program now – get something in writing so people will start. What about people emailing Chris Drews with nominations and he will contact them. Or send something to Jean and she will mail it out as a separate mailing.

Ice Commissioner: Jackie Rog. – she spoke with Mark M regarding what he wanted – 847 hours billed (includes 60 unused) – now have 57 hours tryouts boys and girls – 277 at SSR booked – waiting for more – district asking for 50 of those hours – have split from Shoreview – 46 of them – start kids November 10th – nothing before November 25th – want to buy some hours back but not late times – buy some from Edison – they have no hours – men’s and women’s leagues have them all – 342 requested from Ramsey county – Augsburg will let us in before someone else, Coliseum let us in after 2 tournaments, VMIA could be some ice there, big girls tournament up at SSR before Thanksgiving tournament, better support for outdoor rinks, New Brighton Park and Rec paid so would have better outdoor ice, could affect nice skates, pay for someone to man shelters, can a parent volunteer do that? Arrange ice time with city so other activities not going on at same time, Dale Aukee – Mounds View Park and Rec contact?

Registration Coordinator: Jeanne Falconer. – hand-out – who responsible for coach’s CEPs? ACE coordinator or Jeanne? Not on USA hockey website – top copy – what get if register online – we should do this – we don’t need to maintain – just bring copy of this to registration, waiver is on there – we don’t need our own – need for a couple years to note who did and who didn’t do it online – have a laptop here and do it online during registration – all board members should be at registration – available for Q&A – we probably won’t do the credit card program – see hand out – we pay whether we use it or not – pay monthly – only useful if use for registration and ice bills - $5 minimum because we are non profit – let Jeanne know if you have any questions on this – Jeanne made up documents – comments? All subject to change – do monthly billing – 5th of each month ice payment is due – not going to be worth it – Tom doesn’t want to be each team’s treasurer – refund policy needs to be stated on registration form – extraordinary circumstances should be considered – privacy policy should be on website – Jeanne will talk to Torri – provide input to Jeanne. On-line vs registration paperwork. Need to know number of teams – number of players – number of coaches – amount of ice time to determine costs.

Equipment Manager: Tom Johnson. Spending time with Randy – order jerseys for mites and socks for everyone – numbers? Some inventory of socks – bags of socks returned? Project numbers and then decide what to purchase. Can tryouts not conflict with football games? Jeff Smith – Irondale, Jeff Carroll – Mounds View - Can we share schedules with them and them with us so we don’t conflict?

Standing Reports:

Player and Coach Development: Mark Mohar – meeting a couple weeks ago – Jeff Opperman – survey feedback with Tadd – will be done again this year – successful – do again – 2007/2008 contract with Tadd – same or renegotiate with Tadd – warm-ups should be part of skills and Tadd should be involved – make a motion to renegotiate contract with Tadd Toumie for 2007/2008 season pending same final contract to be approved by board – TJ second - all in favor, no opposed – motion passed

Would you like to have something published in the newsletter? Please contact Jean Aukee. Would you like something on the Web Site? Contact Torri Johnson at
Information you share is helpful in keeping our members up to date about activities of the Irondale Youth Hockey Association! (The deadline for the next month’s newsletter is the first of each month.) Thank you!